The Lake Mungo remains are three important sets of human remains from Aboriginal Australians. These include Lake Mungo 1 (also called Mungo Woman, LM1, and ANU-618), Lake Mungo 3 (also called Mungo Man, Lake Mungo III, and LM3), and Lake Mungo 2 (LM2). Lake Mungo is located in New South Wales, Australia, within the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region.
Mungo Woman (LM1) was found in 1968 and is one of the world’s oldest known cremations.
The remains known as Lake Mungo 2 (LM2) were discovered at the same time as LM1. They consist of about thirty small pieces, mostly from the skull and spine.
The remains called Mungo Man (LM3) were found in 1974. They are about 40,000 years old and date to the Pleistocene epoch. These remains are the oldest Homo sapiens (human) remains discovered on the Australian continent.
Geology
Lake Mungo is a dry lake located in southeastern Australia, in the south-western part of New South Wales. It is about 760 kilometers (470 miles) west of Sydney and 90 kilometers (56 miles) northeast of Mildura, and 110 kilometers northwest of Balranald. The lake is the main feature of Mungo National Park and is one of seventeen lakes in the World Heritage listed Willandra Lakes Region. Sediments at Lake Mungo have been forming for more than 100,000 years. Three distinct layers of sand and soil, called the Walls, surround the lake’s edge. The oldest layer is the reddish Gol Gol layer, formed between 100,000 and 120,000 years ago. The middle greyish layer is the Mungo layer, created between 50,000 and 25,000 years ago. The most recent layer is the pale brown Zanci layer, formed mostly between 25,000 and 15,000 years ago.
The Mungo layer, formed during the last ice age, has the most important archaeological finds. Even though this time had less rain and cooler weather, more rainwater flowed from the western side of the Great Dividing Range, keeping the lake full of fish and waterbirds. This environment supported many people and provided plenty of resources, as well as many types of large animals that lived in Australia.
During the last ice age, the lake’s water level dropped, and it became a salt lake. This caused the soil to become alkaline, which helped preserve remains left behind.
Lake Mungo 1 (LM1)
LM1 was discovered on July 15, 1968, in the Willandra Lakes Region by Jim Bowler with the University of Melbourne.
Scientists used a method called 14C dating to find out that LM1 lived between 24,700 and 19,030 years ago. A date of 26,250 ±1120 years ago was found using charcoal from a hearth 15 cm above the burial. The remains are not well preserved. Before the bones were returned to the Indigenous people of Australia in 1992, very little detailed information was published. Without a full description of the remains and limited access to the original bones, it is hard to study the published material.
The reconstruction and description of LM1 were mostly done by Alan Thorne at the Australian National University. LM1 was an early human who lived on the continent of Australia. Her remains are among the oldest sets of anatomically modern human remains found in Australia.
This discovery shows that early human societies performed complex burial rituals, including cremation. The bones suggest that after LM1 died, her body was burned, broken into pieces, burned again, and then covered with ochre from a location far away from where she was found.
In 1992, the bones were returned without conditions to the traditional owners, a group called the Three Traditional Tribal Groups (3TTG), which includes the Paakantji, the Muthi Muthi, and the Ngiyampaa. LM1 became a symbol of the long history of Aboriginal people in Australia and an important reference for both archaeologists and Indigenous Australians. The bones were kept in a locked vault at the Mungo National Park exhibition centre. The vault required two keys to open: one held by archaeologists and the other by local Indigenous people.
In late 2013, the New South Wales government removed all management structures, leaving no one responsible for caring for the remains. A new management plan was created in early 2014, but no one was available to carry it out.
On May 24, 2022, Mungo Lady and Mungo Man were reburied. Heritage NSW, which had custody of the remains, stated that the state government did not authorize, conduct, or endorse the removal and burial of the remains on that date.
Lake Mungo 3 (LM3)
Lake Mungo 3 (LM3) was found by ANU geomorphologist Jim Bowler on February 26, 1974, when moving sand dunes revealed the remains. LM3 was discovered near Lake Mungo, one of several dry lakes in the southeast of the continent, and 500 meters east of the LM1 site. The body was placed on its back in a special ceremony, with knees bent and hands near the groin, fingers interlocked. Nearby were remains of fire. The body was covered with red ochre, the earliest known example of a complex and artistic burial practice. This discovery was important to Aboriginal Australians because it showed that some cultural traditions existed in Australia much earlier than previously thought. At the time of LM3’s discovery, it was believed that Aboriginal people arrived in Australia from Asia about 20,000 years ago. Later finds at Lake Mungo suggest human presence in the area as far back as 46,000–50,000 years ago.
The skeleton belonged to a person who, based on signs of arthritis in the lower back, bone changes, and severe tooth wear, was about 50 years old when they died. The skull had a delicate shape, different from the structure of modern Indigenous Australians. Parts of the skeleton had broken down over time: much of the skull was missing, and many limb bones had surface damage.
Determining LM3’s sex was difficult because the skull and pelvis bones, which usually help identify sex, were damaged. However, other features suggest the remains belonged to an adult male. A study using the length of limb bones estimated LM3’s height at 170 centimeters (67 inches or 5 feet 7 inches), which was taller than average for modern Aboriginal males but shorter than many males from the Pleistocene era.
The first age estimate for LM3 was made in 1976 by a team from the Australian National University (ANU). They estimated LM3 was between 28,000 and 32,000 years old. They did not test the remains directly but compared the layers of soil where LM3 was found to those of LM1, an earlier set of remains also found at Lake Mungo.
In 1987, an electron spin resonance test on bone fragments from LM3 suggested an age of 31,000 years, with a possible range of 7,000 years. In 1999, thermoluminescence dating of unburnt sediment near the burial site indicated the burial was older than 24,600 years and younger than 43,300 years. Later, in 1999, Thorne et al. estimated LM3 to be 62,000 years old by combining data from uranium-thorium dating, electron spin resonance, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of the remains and surrounding soil.
This estimate was controversial. The lowest layer containing LM3 was found to be no older than 43,000 years, but the ANU team had previously dated the layer itself as 59,000–63,000 years old. Critics pointed out problems with using uranium-thorium dating on tooth enamel. Results from 25 additional OSL tests suggested LM3 could not be older than 50,000 years. Anthropologist Peter Brown noted that without the original soil layer above the burial, only a possible maximum age could be determined, not a minimum.
In 2003, Professor Bowler led a team of experts, including scientists, the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, CSIRO, and descendants of the Mungo people, to determine LM3’s age. They concluded LM3 was about 40,000 years old. This estimate matched evidence from four dating methods. The 40,000-year-old age is now widely accepted, making LM3 the second-oldest modern human fossil east of India. The study also found that LM1, previously thought to be 30,000 years old, was similar in age to LM3. LM1 remains are considered the earliest evidence of human cremation discovered.
Current scientific thinking, based on the African origin of modern humans model, suggests all humans outside Africa today descended from a small group that left Africa about 60,000 years ago. This estimate comes from genetic studies. In this model, humans spread quickly across the globe after leaving Africa. This explains the debate over older dates for LM3, as human settlements on other continents likely formed shortly after the group left Africa.
In 2001, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from LM3 was studied and compared to other sequences. It showed more genetic differences than expected when compared to European DNA. Comparisons with Aboriginal DNA suggested LM3’s DNA was outside the range of genetic variation seen in modern Aboriginal people, supporting the multiregional origin hypothesis. These findings were controversial, and concerns were raised about the study’s validity. A reanalysis in 2016 suggested LM3’s DNA might have been contaminated with modern European DNA, and it was unclear if any of the 2001 study’s DNA was ancient. Ancient mtDNA was later found in another Willandra Lakes skeleton, determined to be of Aboriginal origin.
When LM3 was discovered in 1974, it was moved to the Australian National University for research and preservation. In 2014, the traditional owners of the Willandra Lakes formally requested the remains’ return. In 2015, ANU handed the remains to Aboriginal elders in a ceremony, expressing regret for their removal. The remains were temporarily stored at the National Museum of Australia. Proposals for a "keeping-place" at Lake Mungo to return the remains to the earth while allowing research were discussed. In 2017, the remains were returned to Lake Mungo, placed in a casket made of ancient red gum, and stored at an undisclosed location until a final resting place could be decided.
Further discoveries
In 1989, the skeleton of a child from the same time period as Mungo man was found. The 3TTG blocked further study of the remains. The remains were protected and left in their original place. In 2005, an adult skeleton was exposed by erosion. However, by late 2006, it was completely destroyed by wind and rain. This loss led the Indigenous custodians to receive a government grant of $735,000 to survey and improve the protection of skeletons, hearths, and middens that were eroding from the dunes. Conservation efforts are conducted in-situ, and no research is allowed.
Tourism
Mungo National Park is open to visitors and can be reached by a dusty road. Boardwalks were built across the sand dunes, and visitors are not allowed to walk off the boardwalks unless an Aboriginal guide is present. In 2014, fake bones were placed in the area as part of a study by La Trobe University. Within two weeks, almost all of the fake bones were taken.